Health and Safety
Executive / Commission
Local authority circulars
To: Directors of Environmental Health/ Chief Environmental Health Officers of London, Metropolitan, District and Unitary Authorities and Chief Executives of County Councils.
For the attention of: Environmental Services / Trading Standarss / Fire Authorities / Other
This circular gives advice to local authority enforcement officers
1 This circular provides information and advice about the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to auditing for work-related stress in a regulatory context following the completion of a pilot project with the BP/Mobil Joint Venture (JV) and Milton Keynes Council.
2 In March 1998, the Board endorsed proposals for a pilot-scale project 'Auditing for work-related stress in BP/Mobil'. The project was put forward after consultation within HSE identified a need for Operational Directorates and Divisions to become more familiar with the issue and to help spread good practise in inspection more widely.
The aims of the project were to
3 Stress is a key issue for employers and their staff in many industries. SWI95 figures show that more than half-a-million people suffer from work-related stress, or from an illness which they believe to have resulted from work-related stress. Employers have a duty (under HSWA and the Management Regulations) to consider stress and mental health generally, when assessing possible health hazards in their workplace.
4 Much of HSE's experience in inspecting/auditing work-related stress rested with inspectors operating in the service sector. Following consultation with inspectors in 1997, Health Directorate identified a need to work with the operational parts of HSE to help them become more familiar with this issue and to help spread good practice in inspection more widely. The Local Authority Unit advised that there was a similiar need for local authority enforcement officers.
5 The former JV (now dissolved) recognised that it needed to address the issue of work-related stress more proactively. It undertook a wide range of manufacturing activities in the chemical sector, and operated a large number of petrol stations. It therefore provided a unique opportunity to audit a large organisation's management systems covering an important health topic not previously covered in any depth.
6 Audit inspections were carried out at the following sites:
7 The audits were carried out in accordance with HSE's standard audit methodology. The guidance given in "Successful Health and Safety Management" HS(G)65 was used in outlining the scope of the audits. A key issues agenda was prepared for the selected topics to cover each of the key elements of a health & safety management system as described in HS (G) 65.
8 The selected topics were chosen by the Project Board (comprising of representatives from HSE, the JV and local authority) as issues that were known to cause work-related stress when managed poorly. The topics were:
9 Senior managers were interviewed to establish company policy and more general management arrangements. Occupational Health and Human Resources professionals were also interviewed to establish policies relating to work-related stress. Personnel at various levels in each business unit and site visited were interviewed in the usual way.
10 Stress is a large subject that has elements that are:
Therefore, enforcement officers are likely to be abe to address only part of the issue.
11 Because enforcement officers restricted this audit to cover only certain specific stressors, they largely avoided being drawn into debates in some of the grey areas. The audit technique was able to identify management system failings that were leading to an increased risk of stress among employees (and hence an increased risk of mental and physical ill-health). However, owing to a lack of clear benchmarks of good practice, enforcement officers were unable to suggest robust solutions to the problems identified. Nonetheless, the process engaged managers in the organisation and stimulated them to devise their own solutions. This was, with hindsight, perhaps the best that could have been expected.
12 Undertaking the audit was resource intensive and required significant commitment from all partners. Furthermore, the project team enjoyed the full co-operation and assistance of the employers and employees involved in the audit project. It is unlikely that enforcement officers would enjoy as much support if they chose to audit organisations for work-related stress in a similiar way.
13 Enforcement officers are invited to: